DUNEDIN, Fla. — It was half a game with 13-man batting orders, nine pitchers and two umpires. All of the players wore blue. The crowd sat on metal bleachers five rows high. Chain-link protected the spartan dugouts. Ospreys screeched overhead, soaring from scraggly nests atop the light towers.

There was absolutely nothing of long-term significance about this affair, except that it was a game of baseball on a hot, sun-drenched day, and it was balm for the soul of the Toronto Blue Jays fan aching to escape winter’s cabin fever.

Oh, and Munenori Kawasaki served as temporary bat boy and played left field and chattered noisily in two languages, which fans could hear and appreciate because they sat so close to the action. And when he poked a single past the third baseman, the crowd responded with the game’s biggest round of applause.

Game? Well, yes, in a manner of speaking. This was the first tiny turn of the can opener on a baseball season. It was an intrasquad match, a minuscule stepping stone to the first exhibition game, which will come on Wednesday and will not mean much, either.

The team in the third-base dugout won 1-0 by bunching four singles against Aaron Sanchez, rated the Jays’ top pitching prospect by many alleged experts. The other alleged experts say Marcus Stroman is better, and on this day he was, pitching a scoreless inning in which he retired Jose Reyes, Ryan Goins and Colby Rasmus while walking Edwin Encarnacion.

Sanchez, who is 21 and has not pitched above Class-A ball, was unfazed by his condensed four-hitter. He was a tad generous when he said the hits he gave up represented “weak contact,” but hey, this is the kid’s first big-league camp and Tuesday marked his first time facing big-league batters outside of a batting cage, so cut him some slack.

He also was concerned about causing any damage.

“Your game is a little different too because you’re pitching against your own teammates,” Sanchez said. “You have a tendency to not pitch on the inner part of the plate, like I do usually.”

He was not nervous, he said. Then he admitted he might be on Friday, when he is scheduled to pitch in an exhibition game against the Pirates.

Sanchez is unlikely to sniff the big leagues this year. But the Jays continue to say Stroman has a shot to win the fifth starter’s spot. Asked if he feels as if he is in constant audition mode, the hard-throwing right-hander replied, “It’s hard, man. I’m new to this. I’m just trying to go out there and compete and whatever happens, happens.”

So here we are, after one inning of one intrasquad game, and the media lens is zooming tighter on the battle for the fifth starter’s spot. Expect a daily update. Here comes another, because the other starter in Tuesday’s faux game was Drew Hutchison, who faced big-league hitters for the first time since June 2012, when he joined the parade of Toronto pitchers whose elbows required reconstruction.

Hutchison was promoted from Double-A that year and was pitching pretty well when injury struck. He says he came to camp two years ago expecting to win a roster spot, and the same goes for 2014.

“In 2012, I approached it the same way — that I was going to make the team, to be honest with you, even though not many people thought I could,” he said. “But I’m still just approaching it like it’s my job and going out there and going after it.”

Hutchison pitched a scoreless inning, allowing a leadoff bunt single to Anthony Gose and later picking him off second. He is smart enough to realize that it was simply a tiny step, devoid of greater meaning (although he clearly thought that pickoff play was pretty neat).

After the 4 1/2 innings were done, manager John Gibbons was asked how he was feeling about the team’s practice sessions so far and he used the word “crisp” to describe his players’ work. It was an apt adjective. Those poor writers who take money to stand around and suffer in the warm sun while observing the daily drills have noticed a brisk, convivial vibe that was not so evident a year ago.

Asked about that, Gibbons quickly replied: “Well, we got Kawasaki here. We didn’t have him in spring training last year.”

Kawasaki does contribute heavily to the ambience. His teammates love him. He makes them laugh with his Japanese cheers and his choppy English mimicry. (“Attaboy,” coach Luis Rivera shouted at someone during practice Tuesday. “ATTABOY!” Kawasaki yelled back, without a hint of mockery). And if the cliché about giving 110 per cent is mathematically and patently absurd, Kawasaki almost makes it seem possible.

None of that guarantees him a roster spot. But Gibbons seems determined to offer every opportunity.

A Japanese reporter charged with monitoring Kawasaki’s every tic and soliloquy asked the manager about that turn in left field.

“If he can do it, it just makes his opportunities better on the team,” Gibbons replied. “He’s a good athlete. He can play out there. You’ll see him out there a little bit. How often, I don’t know.”

Kawasaki will certainly make it fun while he lasts. How much he might help this team and how much Stroman and Hutchison’s spring debuts might mean in the long run, will take some time to ascertain. Meanwhile, don’t read too much into any of it until mid-March, at the earliest.